Local Communication Aid Services

It is widely recognised that people with a communication impairment, who may benefit from a communication aid, receive a widely varying quality of service across the country and depending on age and cause of impairment.

Following the end of Communication Aid Project (CAP) funding in March 2006, Scope led a campaign to establish a statutory right to communication aids. For a briefing on Scope's Speak for Yourself campaign, go to the Scope website (link to Scope briefing). The Government's response to Scope's campaign has been to indicate that local services now have responsibility for provision of communication aids and related services.

FAST, Scope and Becta, have proposed that delegating responsibility to local services will have limited success without a national initiative to:

  • document the evidence base of need and for the effectiveness of communication aid provision;
  • propose local service models for cross partnership working;
  • include communication aid provision as part of local service performance indicators.

This response has been set out in a background document, Options for Local AAC Services (60kb Word) which describes the current state of service provision and makes the case for Government support for establishing local services. To take these proposals forward and to gain Government championship FAST, Scope and Becta have met with representatives from service provider organisations, professional bodies and Government departments to review the options for establishing local services to meet the needs of people with a communication impairment. See Summary (33kb Word) and Minutes of the meeting (100kb Word).

The Action Plan from the meeting included the co-ordination of a response on four action plan areas:

  1. Evidence of need and research on good practice - Keren Down, FAST
  2. Training, education and awareness raising - John Sewell, TechDis
  3. Models of local service provision - Sharon Lloyd, CSIP
  4. Vision - Chris Stevens, Becta

A further meeting is due to be held in November 2006 at FAST following which a brief report will be circulated with findings and recommendations for action.